1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrical connector and a terminal network thereof; in particular, to an electrical connector and a terminal network thereof which integrate the arrangement and structure of terminal array.
2. Description of Related Art
Configuration of terminal networks of conventional electrical connectors mainly has two aspects: the array arrangement of electrical contacts on the end portions of the terminals, and the structure of the terminals. The configuration of a network terminal is important for providing an electrical connector with high quality transmission and low crosstalk.
FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B reveal most of the terminal network of an electrical connector. FIG. 1A shows a conventional electrical connector array F which has a 7×7 configuration in a horizontal direction X and vertical direction Y including several ground points GP and signal points SP. However, this method uses an excess amount of ground points GP, and fewer signal points SP. For example, the electrical contact sub-array F1 has relatively few signal points SP and more ground points GP. The large amount of ground points GP is necessary to reduce crosstalk to an acceptable level. However, conventional methods still result in electrical connectors with excess volume.
The structure of the ground points GP and the signal points SP are shown in FIG. 1B. In particular to signal points SP, the first terminal 1 and the second terminal 2 have generally the same form and structure, and are generally parallel to each other from end to end. For example, assume a cutting line cuts the first terminal 1 and the second terminal 2, which are arranged side by side, near their left end portions at two first cutting points (11, 21). Define the distance between the two first cutting points (11, 21) as P. Similarly, assume a cutting line cuts the first terminal 1 and the second terminal 2 near their midsections at two second cutting points (12, 22). The distance between the two second cutting points (12, 22) is essentially equal to P. Described above is the conventional practice and structural arrangement of conventional coupling terminals.
However, even if the copious amount of ground points GP reduces crosstalk or other electromagnetic interference to some degree, crosstalk still persist between neighboring terminals or within terminals, especially when the electrical connector is transmitting data at high speed (e.g. 3 Gbps). In order to transmit large amount of data in a short amount of time, the signal needs relatively high bandwidth. Therefore, the signal operating frequency is very high, possibly between 3 GHz and 5 GHz or even higher. An increase in operating frequency increases the severity of crosstalk, which in turn affects the integrity of data transmission and increases the chance of bit errors.
Therefore, if proper shielding cannot be provided for reducing crosstalk, signal frequency must be reduced, leading to bottlenecking of data transmission and reduction of data transmission frequency. Even if proper shielding can be provided between neighboring terminals, an increase in shielding units and grounding units increases the volume and weight of electrical connectors. This contradicts the current trend of miniaturization of electronic elements, and unnecessarily increases production cost.
Hence, the present inventor believes the above mentioned disadvantages can be overcome, and through devoted research combined with application of theory, finally proposes the present disclosure which has a reasonable design and effectively improves upon the above mentioned disadvantages.